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By Jon Machota 56m ago
FRISCO, Texas — Standing in front of a small group of reporters at the back of one of the practice fields in Oxnard, Calif., three months ago, Trevon Diggs shared his main goal for the upcoming season. The Cowboys’ top cornerback was looking to capitalize on all of the plays he didn’t make during his rookie season.
Diggs led the Cowboys last year in interceptions, with three, and passes defended, with 14. It looked like an impressive first year for the 51st overall pick. But not to Diggs.
“I got my hands on 14 balls, but I didn’t get 14 interceptions,” he said. “So that’s a problem. … This year, I’m focused on making all of those opportunities count. Any time I touch the ball, I want an interception.”
It sounded like a second-year player being too hard on himself. Fourteen interceptions? In one season? Surely, he couldn’t be serious.
Well, through only five games this season, Diggs already has an NFL-best six interceptions to go along with a league-high 10 passes defended. His current pace would break the NFL records for both stat categories. The record for most interceptions in a season is 14, by Dick “Night Train” Lane in 1952. The record for passes defended is 31, by Darrelle Revis in 2009. No other NFL player has more than three interceptions and Diggs has more picks than 27 NFL teams.
His most recent takeaway was so impressive that Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones compared it to the type of play Deion Sanders used to make when he wore a Cowboys uniform. Diggs tracked the deep ball thrown by New York Giants quarterback Mike Glennon so well that it appeared he was the intended receiver.
“It’s inspirational to see his skill and the natural ability he has to track the ball,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said standing outside the team’s AT&T Stadium locker room after Dallas’ 44-20 win Sunday over the Giants. “Obviously those kinds of plays, those are inspirational. They go beyond the impact of the play itself. They go to the inspiration. And we build on that. You feel that with the team.”
Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn doesn’t like to compare players, but he did so in Diggs’ case recently. Quinn never specifically said Richard Sherman’s name, but he hinted that the player he once coached that reminded him of Diggs had recently gotten back into the league.
Sherman was so impressed with Diggs’ play on Sunday that the five-time All-Pro tweeted: “Bro, Trevon Diggs is DPOY right now! Keep eating!”
The current BetMGM odds have Diggs third in the Defensive Player of the Year race at plus-900, trailing only Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett (+350) and Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (+650).
Diggs called it a blessing to hear that Sherman typed those words. Diggs said when he got switched from wide receiver to cornerback in college, Sherman was one of the players he studied because of his similar body type. Diggs is 6-2, 195 pounds. Sherman is 6-3, 195 pounds.
It’s not much of a secret anymore that Diggs, a four-star wide receiver prospect coming out of high school, was moved to defensive back by legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban. But Diggs shared Sunday night that he was so hurt by the decision at the time that it brought him to tears.
Saban explained that the NFL is always looking for cornerbacks with his body type, ball skills and athletic ability, so as Diggs put it, he eventually “sucked it up and got back to work.”
His feelings now?
“I thank Saban for that,” he said. “I appreciate you.”
While speaking with reporters last week, Diggs wore sunglasses. Quinn revealed Monday that he was dealing with pink eye in both eyes.
“It would have been easy for him to back away and say, ‘I’ve got to get this right.’ You feel like you want to scratch your eyes out,” Quinn said. “I thought it showed a lot for him to battle through it. I’ve certainly been impressed.
“Where does it come from? He’s quiet by nature, but I’d say don’t confuse that quiet demeanor. This is a true wolf in sheep’s clothing. This guy is a rare competitor. I love the way he goes after it and battles.”
Quinn also praised the ball skills that were on display during Diggs’ third-quarter interception on Sunday. While many have said similar things about that elite part of Diggs’ game, few can provide the comparison that Quinn did to arguably the most talented player he has ever coached.
“Playing DB is hard because sometimes you just have to play at a flash at the ball,” Quinn said. “In other words, you’re playing on a receiver, you are running down the field together and as he looks up, you’re looking through his hands or catching just the last little bit. The elite receivers do that, where they don’t have to look at the ball.
“I remember many times at practice where Julio Jones, the ball will be here and he puts his head down and starts digging again, and then goes to get it. It was always so remarkable for me to see that. Usually, you see a guy just running and looking at it and diving and he would say, ‘Nope, I’ve got to go a little further,’ and then look back. Having those kind of ball skills where you know where it is, where to track it, where it’s going to be, that’s a whole other level.
“I’d like to say we’ve been really coaching Trevon up on that, but that would be a lot of bullshit.”
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy couldn’t recall after Sunday’s game being around any player on a streak like Diggs is with at least one interception in each of the first five games of a season. There was a time when McCarthy would say that a 50/50 ball in the air is as much Diggs’ as it was the wide receiver’s. He now thinks that’s incorrect. That percentage has tilted to something more in Diggs’ favor. Diggs agrees.
“I was standing there with Dak (Prescott) and I’ll use his words,” McCarthy said. “‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’ The ball goes up in the air and he’s coming down with it. He’s playing at an extremely high level. His confidence is off the chart. Just the way he goes after the football, it’s unique.”
Prescott joked after the game that Diggs thinks he’s a wide receiver, even bugging the Cowboys quarterback during the week about getting a few reps on offense.
Prescott’s typical response: “Relax.”
“But when you see a catch like that (Sunday),” Prescott said, “you’re like, ‘Maybe we can talk again.’ It’s impressive.”
Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper has been telling Diggs the last couple of weeks that opposing quarterbacks are eventually going to start avoiding him. Diggs obviously doesn’t want that to happen.
“If they keep throwing at the kid, he’s gonna get more,” Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “You keep throwing at 7, he’s gonna pick you off. I think it’s about time quarterbacks stop looking his way.”
McCarthy called offensive plays for almost his entire 13 years in Green Bay. He’s had to game plan around some elite cornerbacks. When asked for how he’d plan to attack a team with Diggs, the first step went like this: throw where Diggs isn’t.
“I’ve got my goals at the end of the day,” Diggs said, “but I’m really focused on taking it one game at a time, just trying to dominate, dominate everyone that comes in front of me. That’s the main goal. If I keep doing that, step-by-step, the sky’s the limit. I don’t know where I can go.”
